


Lie-Detector, Secret-Keeper

by aoverlordmidmolt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rigel Black Series - murkybluematter
Genre: Gen, Inspired by The Rigel Black Chronicles, Rigel Black Chronicles Masquerade 2021, Very Minor, mostly just an implication, references to domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29242944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aoverlordmidmolt/pseuds/aoverlordmidmolt
Summary: Harry has a lot of secrets and plenty of people who are curious about them. Sometimes, Eleni suspects, being a living lie detector is cheating.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 110
Collections: Rigel Black Chronicles Masquerade 2021





	Lie-Detector, Secret-Keeper

As she exited the Floo at St. Mungo’s, she was ambushed by one Sirius Black.

“Eleni,” he cried, slinging an arm around her should.

“Let me guess,” she said, “They’ve kicked you out of the children’s wing, and instead have you ambushing poor patients to test their sanity. Or the Healers are trying to save their own.”

“Anyone whose day isn’t made brighter by my very presence is no doubt the poor sufferer of some malady of the mind,” Sirius agreed. Eleni thought it fascinating that his deliberate bits of outrageousness did not always register as lies. It was as if his sincerity was so genuine he actually believed himself, at least for as long as it took him to say it.

“I don’t think it's them suffering from the malady.” Lie, her magic buzzed.

“Eleni, Eleni,” Sirius shook his head, “You wound me.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“But,” he continued, “Even your harsh rejection is not enough to fell me this day. Eleni, the kids will be home in a week!”

“Last I checked Sirius, you only had one child.”

“Eleni! Not only do you insult me, next you tell me you don’t even remember our scintillating conversations! I know I’ve told you about Harry. She’s at AIM, hopefully causing havoc. We were all surprised when she said she was going to study Healing. You know, Archie’s always been the future healer in the family, and Harry is just obsessed with potions. A mad potions genius, that one. I have no doubt that husband of yours will run into her sooner or later, and…”

Sirius only rambled when he was nervous or excited. Eleni was glad he would no longer be in that house of his. It didn’t stop her occasional wish that his method of expressing his emotions was a bit, well, less.

* * *

Harry did not attend AIM. 

She stumbled into Maywell that summer, covered in blood and eyes wide from shock. She said she studied at AIM, with all the ease of a practiced lie. However, even if Eleni wasn’t practiced in dealing with accomplished liars (read: Leo), she would know. The strange quirk of her magic had been warning her of untruths since she was a child.

Eleni couldn’t say her curiosity wasn’t piqued, but it also wasn’t her business. She patched the girl back up as best she could and sent her home.

One day in December, her husband walked in the door, absolutely beaming. She looked up from where she was rummaging around in the kitchen. “Good day at work, dear?” she asked.

“I finally found that mysterious brewer,” he replied, all excitement, “You’ll never guess. Apparently, Harriet Potter has been brewing potions for Krait, down at the Serpents’ Storeroom. I went ahead and offered her an internship at the guild over the summer.”

“Her parents let her brew potions commercially?” Eleni asked, even though she knew she shouldn’t.

Her husband’s face fell a little. “Not exactly. She asked me not to tell them. Not to lie,” he hurried to assure her, “Just to not bring it up.”

Eleni’s lips twitched. “Well, that’s alright then. She must be good if you’re offering her an internship at her age.”

“Most certainly. Burke is already selling her blood replenishers, and they’re certainly as good as anything. No idea how she learned so much, though. Apparently, she isn’t even in the Potions tract at AIM. How she got that good on her own, well,” he paused, “Let’s just say I fully expect her to be an asset to the guild one day.”

Eleni smiled, “Young Harry, I’m sure, will be full of surprises.”

* * *

Eleni knew the first time she had met the woman Harry had asked her to employ that she had not grown up in the alleys. It also shortly became clear, that her name was not, in fact, Merriam. The soft-spoken, uncertain woman had the smooth hands of a noble. She also, clearly, was hiding from someone—Eleni had a dark suspicion it was the woman’s own husband. 

While Merriam had lied about her name, and when pressed, her background, she had yet to lie about anything else. Questions rattled Merriam so much, at first, that Eleni didn’t have the heart to ask them. Merriam though, eventually regained her voice.

“I know you aren’t from the alleys,” Janice asked her one day. Janice had taken Merriam under her wing immediately explaining the rogue and helping her navigate the alleys. More recently, Janice had been trying to set Merriam up with Adam, who came by regularly with deliveries. “But I never asked how you got here,” Janice continued. Janice was sitting at a chair she pulled up to the front desk, eating her lunch while distracting Merriam from the paperwork. Eleni was cleaning up in an examination room nearby, and certainly hadn’t eased the door open so as to listen better. The room was stifling; she was just improving air circulation. 

“Oh, well,” Merriam began hesitantly, “I needed somewhere to stay, and Harry helped me out. She’s such a sweet child.”

“I’ve seen Harry by the clinic a few times,” Janice commented, “But I hadn’t thought she lived in the alleys.”

“No, not most of the time. She keeps a place over on Dogwood. I moved out only recently if you remember. Figured she deserved her apartment back.”

“Why would she keep a place but not live there?”

“I think she does, some of the time.” This registered as a half-lie. The kind you told knowing it could be true, but suspecting it likely wasn’t. “She was just staying away trying to give me some space. I’ll bet she’ll move back in now that I’m gone.” A full lie, this time.

Janice puzzled over that. “Well, she must have somewhere else if she’s been staying away for so long,” she shook her head, “Harry always seemed a strange child.”

“Perhaps,” Merriam answered noncommittally, and the conversation dropped.

* * *

Hermione Granger was in most respects, a very straightforward young girl. Outspoken, honest, intelligent, and well-trained in healing, she was a definite asset to the clinic. She also firmly believed she knew Harry Potter and that Harry attended AIM with her. Harry had seemed in no hurry to disabuse the girl of this notion.

Her son, in particular, seemed interested in this phenomenon.

“So,” he asked, lurking around the clinic one day, “What’s Harry like at school?”

Hermione was organizing the storeroom, which was located conveniently next to Eleni’s office. “Well,” she said, bottles clanking as she shelved them, “I imagine the same Harry is anywhere,” From the buzz in her magic, Eleni suspected that while Hermione didn’t believe this, she wished she did. “She,” Hermione said carefully (and why did that feel like a lie, too?), “Is, you know, Harry. Dramatic and loud, and sneaky and wickedly smart. Obsessed with healing, as always.”

“Harry wants to be a Healer, does she?” Leo asked. Eleni imagined he had his hands in his pockets and a face the picture of innocence. The exact sort of look where he seemed to be saying, “Me? outrageous. Why, I’ve never done anything outrageous in my life?” In Eleni’s experience, it was generally followed (or preceded) by the most ridiculous bits of outrageousness she had ever seen.

“Well, of course,” Hermione said, voice tinged with vague disapproving, likely confused this wasn’t common knowledge to Leo.

“Of course,” Leo echoed, before making his excuses.

He would be back. Leo had never known how to leave something alone, and there was a mystery here. For, Eleni gathered, the Harry Hermione knew was not the same Harry Eleni knew. Still, there were pieces missing (like who Hermione’s Harry was instead).

Instead of leaving the clinic, Leo came into her office conspicuously shutting the door behind him. He dropped into one of the chairs in front of her desk, adopting one of the more aggressive of his understated lounging poses. “Why, my own Ma,” he said, “I never thought I see the day where I’d catch you dropping eaves.” (The lie buzzed against her magic).   
Eleni looked up from her folder, eyebrow raised. “You knew perfectly well I was in here before you started that conversation.”

“Can you blame me for figurin’ my own, honorable, upright Ma wouldn’t be listenin’ in on someone else’s conversation?” Leo’s eyes narrowed as he said it.

“Hmm. Do you what happened to my son? He has never seemed to think twice about harboring suspicions against his own mother.” Eleni turned back to her file.

“Mother, what do you know?” he asked more seriously.

“Plenty of things,” Eleni commented pleasantly, “But if you mean about Harry, then I’m sure you’ll remember that it isn’t any of your business.”

“Not yours either,” he muttered disagreeably.

“No.”

He huffed as he got to his feet, “One day, Mother, you will have to accept that personality didn’t spring to life fully formed. If you want to complain about my curiosity and meddling, maybe you should first admit I got it from you.”

With that, he left.

* * *

There were mirrors up along Diagon for the last task, so the news reached her before the newspaper did. Rigel Black was a halfblood imposter. 

Leo burst into the clinic later the next day. “Ma,” he said, “I need you to understand something. Harry has been livin’ in the alleys these past few years. She came to me sometimes when she needed tutorin’. She came to you when she needed help with some o’ her healin’ spells. You knew what was going on, and never told her parents or Lord Black, even though you know it would make them angry. Even though you might lose one of your friends over it.”

It was all lies, of course (except for the last).

Eleni looked at her son, her face a mask of sincerity, “Of course, Leo. Though I can’t say she needed my help all that often. She’s a quick one.”

“Ma,” he said, somewhat uncertain.

“Harry’s resourceful, Leo. Has to be, living on her own in the alleys so long,” Lie, her magic told her. Eleni’s lips quirked up. “She’ll be fine, Leo.” 


End file.
